Of the 2036 unique links shared on #MRX last week, here are 10 of the most retweeted.

A Patch, A Niche, A Disruptor & Something Over The Horizon – Ray Poynter of Vision Critical University looks at types of ongoing shifts in the research industry: “patches” like gamification are stopgaps that will allow research to continue using traditional methods until new tools have matured; niches like neuroscience will not be scalable any time soon; disruptors such as text analytics will transform the industry. Other changes “over the horizon” will cause long-term transformation but have little short-term impact.

Meet The New Consumer? – Steve Needel skewers the hyperbole about how the “new consumer” makes purchase decisions.

30th British Social Attitudes Survey – This survey looks at trends in British attitudes over the past 30 years, including increasing acceptance of premarital sex and homosexuality, a decline in affiliation with the Church of England but a resurgence in support for the monarchy, and an increase in EU separatism.

UK Researchers Get Positive Over Budgets And Growth – Simon Miller, writing in Research, reports that UK researchers recorded 6.5% revenue/budget growth over the past 12 months and forecast 5.8% growth for the next 12 months, up sharply from 1.9% growth in December 2012.

Note: This list is ordered by the relative measure of each link’s influence in the first week it debuted. A link’s influence is a tally of the influence of each Twitter user who shared the link and tagged it #MRX.